Tom's Blog

The iPad

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:31:35 GMT

John introduces you to Apple's latest invention.

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I am not an apple guy…

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:36:32 GMT

but this really looks fantastic

Perspective (Powers of Ten – Part II)

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:06:43 GMT

The both videos in my previous post should have given you already a rough idea of perspective. Here’s another one that clearly states: we are not the centre of the universe !

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Powers of Ten

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:56:24 GMT

In 1977, Charles and Ray Eames made a nine-minute film called Powers of Ten that still has the capacity to expand the way we think and view our world. Millions of people have seen the film, and it continues to be shown in classrooms, business meetings, festivals and retreats around the world. Starting with a sleeping man at a picnic, the film takes the viewer on a journey out to the edge of space and then back into a carbon atom in the hand of the man at the picnic, all in a single shot. It is an unforgettable experience.

Each October 10th, the Eames Office celebrates Powers of Ten Day to promote and share this method of viewing ideas from an infinitesimal to a cosmic perspective.

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The Most Useless Machine EVER!

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:41:53 GMT

Have you ever thought of constructing your own machine ?

Well, this might be a good inspiration for the beginning…

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From large to even larger

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:46:25 GMT

Martin posted a fascinating Lego video this week. Well, when it comes to toys, Lego is not the only thing coming to my mind: of course a model railway is on top 1 of my favourite toys ;-)

Located in Hamburg, Germany, is the by far largest model railway of the world, the Miniatur Wunderland. I have been there countless times being amazed by the creativity, the technology and the size of it.

For some time they are working now on the next huge section, not directly expected on a model railway, but it fit's perfectly: a model airport, with starting and landing planes, taxing to the terminal, getting pushed back, cars busses and tankers driving around, and of course some trains as well.

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Would you buy this flat screen ?

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:42:20 GMT

Would you buy this 37-inch flat screen TV for $100 ?

Looks somehow strange, doesn't it ?

Well, honestly, it is no flat screen. But what is it ?

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Annual Swyx Forum staff meeting (SFSM) - Day 2

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:52:33 GMT

This year's Swyx Forum staff meeting (SFSM) took place in Oslo last week. These are the brief meeting minutes of day 2.

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Annual Swyx Forum staff meeting (SFSM) - Day 1

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:51:32 GMT

This year's Swyx Forum staff meeting (SFSM) took place in Oslo last week. These are the brief meeting minutes of day 1.

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Happy Birthday Swyx Forum !

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:05:53 GMT

Last week Swyx Forum silently celebrated it's second birthday. Even I wasn't invited to the party on the server ;-)

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10 Years! (Part II)

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:17:33 GMT

About a year after founding Swyx it was time to represent SwyxWare the first time to the public at CeBIT 2000. For this event Swyx Marketing produced a small video showing the advantages of CTI.

Enjoy

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A different world

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:03:12 GMT

If this has been produced 25 years ago, the world would defiantly be a different one today !

Commodore 64 Original Hardware Laptop

Just imagine that...

Around the world in 80 telescopes

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:50:00 GMT

It's been 400 years since Galileo Galilei pointed for the first time in history the newly invented telescope (a set of lenses) into the skies instead of using it for military purpose (for which it was invented for). He quickly discovered that the sky is much larger than expected and things up there do not match with current believes about how the world is functioning. The "knowledge" back then was highly influenced by the church(es) i.e. religions.

He first discovered that the moon is not flat but instead found craters and mountains to be plastic (3D) objects.

When pointing his telescope to the Jupiter the first time he figured three new stars close by the planet. The next night he was quite surprised that these "stars" had moved and also a fourth "star" appeared additionally. He concluded that these were no stars but instead moons orbiting around the Jupiter.

At the same time Johannes Kepler figured from the huge amount of observation data the most famous and advanced astronomer at that time, Tycho Brahe, left after his death, that the orbits of the planets are not a circle but instead an ellipse around the sun. He figured this for the planets Mars and assumed correctly that this is true for all other planets as well. He also provided the mathematics to calculate the positions of the planets correctly (3rd Kepler Law) but failed to explain why the planets orbit the sun the way they do.

This was done some 80 years later by Isaac Newton who took the findings of Galilei and Kepler and extended them by a complete new mathematic and his famous law of gravity.

The idea of the sun being circled by the planets (including the earth) was first developed by Nicolaus Copernicus 80 years before Galilei and Kepler approved it. Brahe didn't believed in Copernicus' idea but still placed the earth into the center of everything. Interestingly his observation data which provided the information for the elliptic orbits also provided the information for this theory.

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the two most important events on which the modern astronomy, physics and understanding of the world is founded, this weekend (2.-5. April) a huge event is happening all around the world:

100 hours of Astronomy
http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/

Around the world telescopes and planetariums are opened to the public to give everyone the chance to get first hand pictures of what going on above us. To see stars, nebulae's and galaxies with the own eyes.

A special event is

Around the world in 80 Telescopes
http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/webcast

where 80 telescopes around the world provide a 24 hours continuous webcast. The webcast starts on Hawaii and will end there 24 hours later again.

Currently the servers seem to be down due to the high load but I strongly recommend to take a look on them later today/tonight.

In The Know: Teenagers and Alcohol

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:26:00 GMT

In direct response to Morten's blog Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Here is the conclusion...

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Happy Birthday Mr. D.

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:43:34 GMT

If you read yourself through all the blogs world wide these days you find that nearly everyone has to say something about Evolution or Charles Darwin. Even those who are more after Creationism.

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World submarine racing championship

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:41:31 GMT

Do you think the NHL finals or this years Super Bowl where breathtaking ?

Forget about the ICC Cricket World Cup, the Dakar Rally, the Volvo Ocean Race, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships or the Olympic Games.

The new and most exciting sport of the year 2009 is Submarine Racing !

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It's all gone !

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Don't take the following news flash too serious...

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Speed dating !

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:09:16 GMT

It is nearly weekend (just a few moments from now) and it is definitely time for the weekend fun ;-)

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Almost there

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:22:08 GMT

It's about weekend soon, so let's prepare our self for the night in the cinemas with a couple of movies of all genres.

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New Windows Live Writer interface

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:24:41 GMT

According to my forum post I have updated the blog module at Swyx Forum which comes with a new Windows Live Writer interface (MetaWebLog API). This posting just tests this interface as it is written using Windows Live Writer.

Bed time stories you might not want to read to your little ones

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:25:37 GMT

Halloween is not far and it's time to prepare your little ones. My advice is to start with good stories to read as bed times stories. Maybe Steven King is not the best choice...

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Follow-up: How the markets really work

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:59:27 GMT

As a follow-up to my last Fridays post the following is an episode of Bremner, Bird and Fortune, a satirical British television program. John Bird (in the guise of investment banker, George Parr) and John Fortune (together known as the Long Johns) explain a fictitious crash of the money market.

The interesting thing on this is: it was already recorded last year !

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The Financial Crisis Explained

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:25:17 GMT

It is Friday afternoon and the financial markets are going crazy. The following is both: Friday afternoon fun and an easy to understand explanation of what's going on.

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Early Friday

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:35:07 GMT

As there is a national holiday in Germany tomorrow (German Unity Day) my "Friday fun post" is one day early.

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Chrome II

tom.wellige@swyx-forum.de — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:01:36 GMT

Regardless if you like your browser to get a unique ID from Google during setup or not: Chrome'sMore...